Monday, November 17, 2008

So last weekend I put the sexy new studded tires on the Miyata. Thinking that the weather folks weren't lying and snow and ice was coming. I was helped to this conclusion by icy walking in Minneapolis when we went to Harold and Maude. But ice has not appeared and there is no snow.

And there is now visible wear on my brand spanking new tires from riding on bare pavement.

But I still have the 1 1/4 in. knobby tires for the Peugeot. So today the slick 8 year old Continentals come off, and the Kendas go back on.

After a few months on a single speed Frenchie is going to be an exciting ride.

Friday, November 7, 2008

I'll start off by saying, I know who Lynn Warlow is (I had him as a math teacher twice) he was a wrestling coach and math teacher, reserve Marine, and all around a pretty good man. But his constituents are lazy and didn't take his campaign signs down fast enough for them to not see recycling.

I don't know Chuck Baldwin from Adam, but the same goes.

The cross wind on the mendota bridge made the new fenders whistle like some '80s horror movie sound track.

Monday, November 3, 2008

We decided to take an emergency bike ride. And that really helped. We went up Minnehaha to Cedar and picked up a few things from Midwest Mountaineering. Which was pretty cool, we ran into Kevin.

Shannon found a nice hat and I found some gloves that will be nice when it gets colder out. Since the car just needed further repairs, I passed on the gloves for now.

But after perusing the sporting goods store, we went to the Town Hall brewery for lunch. I had two and a half pints of the house stout, and Shannon had the triple and a stout. To eat, I had the 7 corners burger since we had just been to 7 corners hardware this morning. We went there looking for locktite which we found, but I also showed Shannon which drills I liked there. There are two Mikita and one Milwaukee drills I think would be nice. One of the Mikita drills is pretty small, and only 2 amps, but it also weighs damn near nothing. And the other two were much much larger, with the second handle and everything. The burger though, was awesome. Shannon had the pumpkin soup and brat special which rivaled the burger.

The stout was smooth without being sweet or heavy. We'll have to go back.

On our way home, we needed to rest a bit. Mostly, I was having trouble going in a straight line. But as we were sitting next to someone's bronzed work boots a couple came pushing their bikes by asking for directions to the Hub. But what they clearly needed was a patch and a pump.

I had a pump but sadly couldn't find my patch kit anywhere. So another rider gave us a glueless patch and we put everything back together. And I told them where they should be going for their bicycle needs.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

So the whole bike commuting thing is easy during the summer. The days are long, the trails are clear of most debris, for the most part the biggest worry is rain.

But then fall and winter arrive and a new obstacle shows up. It's dark. What I used to use as a light is the Cat Eye light you see on the right. It runs on three AAA batteries, and is a fine being seen light. As far as being able to see though, even the freshest batteries give a dim patch 5 feet away to work with.

A little more than a week ago we picked up the Nite Rider light you see on the left. It has a USB cable for the rechargable battery pack and it ran a whole week's commuting without significant dimming. On Saturday I went on the Night Ride with the folks from Hiawatha Cyclery, and with just an hour's charging it went the whole trip. The Nite Rider light casts a beam about 12 or 15 feet wide and about 20-30 feet down the trail depending on how it is aimed.

I still carry both because the Nite Rider light does not have a blinking function, but for seeing I recommend the Nite Rider. Also, I think having a backup is always a good idea.

I hope there are more night rides or rides on Sundays because it is a fun group to ride with, and Saturday mornings line up tragically with my work schedule.

yeah, I know, what the hell. The ISO was set to 200 and I didn't feel like fussing. this is from the spiral thingy by the Gutherie.